The witness said they saw Rangel toss a kitten through the passenger side window. The kitten then hit the road and stared tumbling. The witness then followed Rangel and saw him toss a second kitten out of the car.

The witness then called 911 to report Rangel and went back to retrieve the kittens from the road. According to an animal control officer, a kitten was found in the road that had "been dead for less than an hour."

Deputies located the Rangel's vehicle, which was described to them by the witness. They then made a traffic stop.

When confronted about the kittens, Rangel responded, "You must be kidding. I wouldn't do that."

Deputies then asked Rangel about the book All About Cats that was sitting on the rear seat of the vehicle. He said it was his daughter's and told the deputies she had a cat. They asked if the cat had kittens recently, to which Rangel said no.

Deputies observed cat tracks all over the vehicle and made a comment about them. Rangel overheard this and said, "Yeah, we have cats all over the place out there, and they crawl over everything." [...] Detectives later said that both Rangel and his vehicle smelled of cats.

Based on the evidence, cops arrested Rangel on an animal cruelty charge. While he continued to deny he was the one who threw the kittens out the window, Rangel did ask to speak with his lawyer.